I am an amateur filmmaker and I was previously using my fathers Canon GL1, which is a great camcorder, but I needed something for myself. I was skeptical of a high quality camcorder at a low price. So I did all the research and liked the ZR50.

The still quality isnt that good, but that is not why I bought it. If you are looking for a nice digital video and still camera, this is not for you. It is a nice bonus, though, to take low quality photos and share them with people over the Internet.

If you have read that the motor noise is a problem, well, the same noise is on my father?s Canon GL1 which is $... So, you make the decision to associate the noise with this particular camcorder or not.

If you want a small digital camcorder that takes great video at a good price, this is one for you.

And I had a real good deal having a free carring bag and free software from Cannon and even a rebate. So, before you pay your credit card, go to check whether there is a rebate or discount offer from Manufacture. Sometimes, you have to browse some where else to find it, I dont trust other retailers, although they do seem to offer better price (they have very high shipping fee!!!).

I ordered it together with the external mic DM-50. (You have to order some tape with it, too. Why doesnt Canon include a tape?) I also have a Mac PowerBook G4. Here are my findings:

1. The video quality outdoors is just great. When you play back on a TV, it looks like any professional TV program. Crisp, colors are great.

2. Optics are excellent. 22x zoom lets you fill the screen with an orange 15 ft away. Shake is no problem. Digital zoom only marginally beneficial.

3. The stills are nothing special. But even a megapixel (like other brands) is nothing special. (My first digi camera was a Kodak 1.3 Megapixel. Nice but only good enough for very small printouts. I have a 4 Megapixel Olympus for hi-res printouts today.) Quality is OK if you want to send 640x480 web images.

4. Sound: The built-in mics are better than expected. They are sensitive and omnidirectional. There is some hum from the motor. Not a lot. But the real kicker is the DM-50. Its not totally cheap but its worth it (in my eyes). The mic is very sensitive and audio is CRYSTAL clear. I taped my wife singing about 25 ft away. She is an opera singer, soprano. Her voice in the high range is a challenge to any mic. Its sensitive enough that I could hear her muttering with the organist, her pageturns. And yet her singing did not distort. The quality exceeds my 2 semi-pro mics. People only 10ft off to the side definitely sounded off mic. And even people right behind me were softer on tape than people in front 20ft away.

The DM-50 has also 2 stereo settings that are more omnidirectional. I havent explored them yet.

5. Connection to the Mac is absolutely a breeze. Just plug in the firewire and load iMovie and you have the camera image on the computer monitor. You can record/import the camera image directly to hard drive w/o hitting record on the camera. iMovie also controls the camera to load the edited movie back onto the camera tape.

6. After the first 15min of taping I got a message that the heads would be dirty?? I ignored it and kept going. No problem. Maybe there was some residue on the heads from the factory? (The handbook says to clean the heads every 20 h.) 3 h of taping later, the message still hasnt come back.

Im so glad I got the ZR50. 22x zoom and DM-50 are worth it!

The packaging of the camera was very nice (especially when compared to the TRV27), with 4 color printing on the outside, and a little molded plastic tray inside to hold all the wires, battery, remote, and other accessories. Although I wouldnt ever make an electronics purchasing decision based on packaging, this was a nice touch that is getting lost by other brands. When you consider that many camcorders are given as gifts, presentation does count for something.

Inserting the battery and plugging in the power supply is quick and intuitive...no surprises here. Inserting a Mini-DV cassette is also fairly simple and loads from the bottom. Compared to the Sony, the loading mechanism is almost the same. Both have the counterintuitive feature of half-closing the tape compartment to trigger the mechanical tape insertion. Although this seems to be the "standard" tape insertion protocol for Mini-DV cameras, it might be easy for an untrained friend or family member to injure your camera if they change the tape.

The Canon ZR50 body feels great in your hands. It is very balanced, appropriately light, and the on/off and record toggle buttons fall naturally under your thumb. The on/off/record buttons are big enough to easily manipulate which is a BIG advantage over the tiny, cramped Sony buttons. If you want very simple controls, or are giving this to a novice camcorder operator, the Canon ZR50 might be a great choice. The play/rewind/forward/stop buttons that you can see in all the photos of the camera are also very big and intuitive. You can even change the backlight colors of the p/r/f/s buttons for an extra cool factor. There is also added perk that the p/r/f/s buttons can glow different colors when the camera is in Player mode vs. Camera mode; when my friend couldnt get the camera to record, I could tell from across the room by the colors of the buttons that he was in the wrong mode.

The construction of the camera is really solid, and feels much tighter than the Sony. The swing out LCD screen and the viewfinder are adequate. Some people who held it made a comment that it had an overall "PlaySkool" quality to it, as if the camera was a rugged little toy. For some reason, this comparison does seem somewhat appropriate.

Recording quality is where the camera falls short. I lined up the Canon next to an older Sony DCR-PC10 (since I didnt have the TRV27 yet, this was the closest test I could do). Holding the cameras side by side, my friend and I shot indoors images, outdoors images, and zoomed in/out with the optical zooms. Comparisons were made based on video quality, color accuracy, brightness and sharpness.

The Canon was consistently off in terms of color accuracy: whites tended to have a red cast and purples were blue. The Sony was very accurate and even its LCD was close to what our eyes saw. Light/bright colors were blown out when outdoors on the Canon, but the Sony captured more color detail in these situations.

The Canon was roughly 20% darker than the Sony in low light. Using the Canons Low Light and Night modes did not sufficiently compensate for brightness. Image was very grainy and dark in situations such as normal office lighting. Grain became excessive on the Canon at moderate to high zoom levels, but was always present nonetheless. Sony was superior to the Canon in all these situations. Furthermore, the Sony image was approximately 50% sharper and retained better detail on subjects like the folds of a shirt or leaves on a tree. Manipulating the manual settings such as shutter speed, or the various AE modes did not significantly improve quality on the Canon.

Quality comparisons between cameras held true when viewing on LCD screen, NTSC monitor direct from camera, or NTSC monitor after transferring DV files to Final Cut Pro.

Finally, there is the issue of the tape whine that is commonly reported. The wine was clearly present. Since the human ear can hear any DV cameras motor whine, I cant completely fault Canon for recording ambient room noise - including its own motor! However, it is more aesthetically pleasing to have a camera that doesnt pick up its own hum. Again, the Sony Mini DV did not pick up its motor noise.

In summary, this camera would be a great pick if Canon could improve the quality of the picture with a special emphasis on indoor lighting conditions. Unless you are not concerned with getting the best video quality you can for a similar price, I would not purchase this camera. The Sony DCR TRV18, 25, 27 and 50 all have the same Mini DV mechanism (i.e. Mini DV quality), so you should be able to find a price point to fit your budget.

I would have liked to purchase a GL2 but the value to dollar ratio of this camera is pretty darn good.

1) Awesome workmanship: The high-grade plastic case pieces precisely fit and give the camcorder a valuable finish, the buttons have a well defined ignition point and the connectors for FireWire, USB, Analog Video etc. are cemented into the case.
2) Excellent cost / feature ratio: Although following the hype of marrying video with stills, this camcorder emphasizes on video (please, do buy a digital camera if you need digital stills). The outstanding optical unit with a real 22x zoom and one of the most effective image stabilizer in the market, combined with a friendly user-interface including illuminated buttons and a clean menu, this camcorder is a bargain.
The picture quality is excellent. One note here: please remember that the miniDV standard builds on 5.7 Mhz video bandwidth. In other words, no matter what the (multi) colored CCD ship is capable of a resolution, it comes down to a maximum of 370,000 effective pixels needed for NTSC video. The 460,000 pixels of this camcorder seem more than enough.
3) Accessories: Just in case you really care about the somewhat whining recorder server motors, please do buy the optional microphone - its an awesome addition if you do semi-professional sound-recordings. Also, Canon offers wide and tele-converters specialized for the ZR series. Not a novelty in camcording in general, but a serious affordable consumer expansion if needed.
4) Internationality: Yes, there are other electrical power systems out there: the Canon switching power supply is not only very light, it also connects to almost every wall-outlet in the world with the right (optional) plug-adapter.
5) Ergonomics: Oh yes, I thought about a palm-ready camcorder, too. But think about it: the optical unit including the lenses and the CCD has to fit into half the length of a regular camcorder like the ZR 50 (Palm recorders do not have more than 10x zoom, the ZR 50 has 22x). The camcorder fits right into my hand, the zoom button can be accessed naturally without shifting the camcorder in your hand (try Sony!) and the zoom button is depth sensitive - the deeper you zoom, the less sensitive is the camcorder zoom-button. Additionally, beside so many other brands out there, the digital zoom is even useable to a certain degree. It becomes affective once the optical zoom is exhausted to a 22x. However, if you want quality video, turn it off.
6) Video Modes: Select one of the predefined video modes. One of the most impressive mode is the night-mode - if the moon strikes you, your ZR 50 will catch it. However, dont expect wonders, every serious video-grapher recommends at least 100 lux (a unit of measuring light-intensity).

Con:
I couldnt find a con so far - maybe the sound-quality the integrated microphone produces? Hm, given the size of the case, it seems reasonable...

Yeah, I am enjoying this camcorder. Canon showed once again that a camcorder design can meet almost all of a consumer-customers needs:
Rich functionality, lightweight design, extensible through optional accessories including lenses, robust workmanship.

Recommended!

THERE ARE TWO GREAT THINGS ABOUT THE CAMCORDER: SIZE AND ZOOM.

I hear a lot of complaints about the motor noise. yes it is there, and yes you can work around it by using an aux mic. The camera is so compact that the tape mech sits very close to the audio. To me, the size outweighs the noise. You can tuck this thing in a pocket.

One of the best things about this camcorder, is the placement of zoom. I looked at some of the vertical style camcorders out there, and was disapointed/confused by there placement of zoom. Camcorder functions are very intuitive, as oppose to like a sony, where everything is done by hunting around in menus (like I feel like using an operating system when filming).

Image quality is superb. For those of you that whine about its low pixel count (460K is a bit low), you should realize that this is not even noticable on standard TVs, unless your some kind of cyborg that can distinguish those things. Id even say its not noticable on an HDTV, but thats beyond my knowledge.

Personally, I would recommend Canon over Sony. Although Sony has tremendous extra features, Id imagine you would use them about 5% of the time. I hardly even use the features on the Canon, opting to do that kind of stuff with adobe premiere/after affects.

Id say, the only negative about the ZR50MC is the plastic housing, it can and will get scuffed up.

I received the camera and microphone today. I was excited and when I opened the box I was delighted with what I saw inside. I would give this camera a 12 for style points since it is the smallest, sweetest looking DV camera I have ever seen... BUT! The motor hum is extremely noticeable even when recording in noisy environments (this is not a camera for anyone who cares at all about audio quality), the picture is grainy and generally poor quality compared with various other cameras and the microphone looks larger than the camera. Seriously, they should show the microphone in relation to the camera, the mic is so big that when its sitting in the accessory shoe it eliminates the cameras only good features, size and looks.

I called Canon and asked if there was any way to turn down the gain on the internal microphone and was very politely told that if I found the motor noise obtrusive I should return the camera.

I didnt even try the other features because the bottom line is that when compared to my Panasonic VHS-C camera (1995 model, cost $550) the VHS-C quality is vastly superior. Any DV camera that cant give a VHS-C camcorder a run for its money should be discontinued. I feel that Canon is trying to make a quick buck in the under $1000 DV market and is doing so at the expense of quality.

One other thing. I ordered this camera without ever trying it out and I think that was a mistake. If you are thinking of buying any type of camera without seeing a live demo of it please re-consider. I will spend at least the next month further researching and trying out DV cameras before I buy another one. I should have listened to the other reviews but I didnt and I got burned. I hope that either Canon fixes their bugs or another manufacturer designs a camera that looks just as good as the ZR-xx series, but actually functions like a DV camera is supposed to. Good luck!

For anyone contemplating buying the ZR series,my advice is to buy
the ZR45MC. The extended recording modes in ZR50MC have so many
limitations, that it is just not worth the extra money.

We loved it. As other reviewers mentioned, its a really cool camera. It looks cute, the features and zoom are amazing, and its easy to use.

But unfortunately we realized the motor whines all the time and its really annoying on playback. You can even hear it when you play back somewhat "noisy" situations, like riding around in a car or being outside. I thought it was unusual, but it turns out there are quieter models available.

I took it back to Henrys and traded it for a Sony DCRTRV18 for C$1199, which after a quick test is definitely quieter. Only drawback is the zoom is only 10x and its not as cute, but the rest of the features are the same.

At first, Henrys tried to tell me the Canon was normal, but I guess when they realized I was interested in the Sony and we were writing up the new order, they admitted that they have had many Canons returned because of the noise.

Sorry Canon. I hope you read this. Great camera, but I didnt want to spend the next 30 years introducing all my home videos apologetically with "uh... heres juniors first steps... sorry about the motor noise in the background."

For all you Canadians out there, dont hesitate to buy from Henrys. Not only were they were ready to give me a full refund, I get 15 more days to try the new Sony and I can still get a refund. Theyre even keeping my old camera in the box for 15 days in case I change my mind! Not gonna happen though...

Bottom line, the camera is too noisy. Dont waste your time and get something else.

1) Motor noise pickup- Yes, it is there. It is a somewhat higher-pitched whine that you can hear if your ear is close to the camera while recording. I bought the DM-50 mike and have now used the mike extensively, including taping my daughters cello recital as well as a MS&HS spring concert which included vocals and a full Vivaldi concerto by a 15 member string ensemble. The DM-50 mike completely takes care of the motor whine. In addition, with the camera set at 16-bit recording, the recorded sound is CD quality. The DM-50 has three settings: boom, 1, and 2 (latter 2 are stereo). The best setting is the "1" setting.
2) General Impression- The video is great. It is the sharpest of all the cameras Ive owned so far. The camera is surprisingly small (half the size of the Hi8mm), but fits well in the hand. The outside buttons are very handy. The LCD viewer is easy to read and has true colors. The manual is comprehensive. The remote is multifunctional. The digital image stabilization works very well (as well as the optical stabilization of my older camcorder). The 22x optical zoom is excellent (I turned off the digital zoom). I was able to take good close-ups of the students at the spring concert (using a tripod). The auto focus is very fast and stable, better than previous camcorders. The camera is clearly not perfect, but for the price, it has a lot of highly desirable features.
3) Low Light Performance- This is not a strong point. The shutter speed for both low light and nightlight causes the images to be jerky when panning. I purchased the VL-3 light since it is powered by the camera battery. At 3 watts, it is not so obtrusive/intense as to be a huge problem for people looking at it. The light is very small, so it is easy to carry. The light is most effective within 6 feet or so. Outdoor video of spring flowers taken at night was fine.
4) Batteries- I purchased the BP-535 battery which is quite large (in a relative scale sense). I used it to power the ZR50 during the 1 hr taping of the spring concert (and it powered the mike as well). When I was done, the indicator was showing 2/3 battery power still left.
5) Bonuses- A) The ZR50 uses the same power adapter/charger (CA-560) as the G2 digital camera- less to carry. B) The remote will also work on my other Canon camcorders which can be a problem if youre using both together. However, you can program the ZR50 remote to setting "2" to avoid this issue. Very thoughtful.
6) Still Images- Have not tried- have excellent digital camera for that.
Finally, due to the small size, I can fit both the ZR50 camcorder and G2 digital camera with mike, light, flash unit, extra batteries, cables, etc. in a fairly small case. This is good.

Thing is, try as I might, I couldnt make myself like the Sony cameras. I study usability and some industrial design and I still wonder what the Sony engineers were thinking when they designed their digital camcorder line. Theyre hard to hold, the buttons are in unnatural places, and the camera doesnt mold into your hand. The salesperson actually told me to hold it "with two hands" and itd be fine. Have you ever tried to push a stroller around Disney World and keep track of a running four year old while filming him with a video camera? Two hands for the camera?!? Give me a break!

I tested every single Sony digital camcorder, and I still kept coming back to this Canon. Yes, it has the motor hum - but the controls are within reach and Im not being forced to try and focus with my pinky using a button thats smaller than a pea (like the Sony Micro-MV). The picture is great.

I took my new camera to Disney for a week....it fit in my small fanny pack, and with the digital photo options, I didnt need to take a regular camera. So much easier and made the trip much more enjoyable. Its not as great with still photos as a dedicated digital camera, but its been great for sending photos directly to relatives via the Internet and making photo CDs.

I love this camera!!!!! Id give it five stars, but Im taking one off for the motor hum. They should fix that. I still recommend everyone go to a local store and actually hold the Sony cameras and try to focus and fit them comfortably in their hand, and then try the same thing with the Canon. That experience will speak for itself.

That said, this camcorder creates a pretty good picture and the optics are great. It is very compact and fits your hand nicely. The swing-out screen is a little hard to see in sunlight. But the motor whine is preventing me from giving more than 2 stars. Its distracting enough to take away from any viewing pleasure.

I have recently noticed postings on other camcorder user websites complaining about the motor buzz on this model so it seems like a common problem.

I will probably return this camcorder for another brand/model that doesnt record the motor, if such a thing exists. Its too bad because this machine looks and feels very cool.

The features are outstanding, and it is small, sturdy, and versatile. The 22X optical zoom is TREMENDOUS; much better than the 10X cameras that are out there. As for low light and night taping, the camera is also exceptional, but it takes a little work to figure out how to shoot in these environments (which is what the other reviewer clearly neglected to do).

You cannot shoot at night or in low light using the "auto" setting. It doesnt work well in low light, at night, or in cars. Instead, you must manually adjust the shutter speed or switch to situational modes like "night mode" or "driving mode" (while in a car) or "sports mode"), etc. This is VERY easy to do once you read the instructions. With a little bit of experimenting with these settings, you will find that the camera takes great pictures in low light, at night, while moving, etc. As for the "buzz" the reviewer above describes, mine doesnt have that. Sometimes the zoom "clicks" when you release it quickly, but some practice should do away with that.

In all, EXCELLENT picture in a variety of lighting, environments or situations, as well as easy connection to TVs and VCRs. The remote is awesome too. I have yet to connect it to my computer.

I think, for the money, this is an A+ camera; better than the others that I looked at in the same price range.

In addition, the motor (scanning head?) whines. This is picked up either through the microphone or directly throught the body and is very noticable on the playback.

To be sure it was the camera, I went to our largest video retailer with my tape and used other manufacturers cameras. The lighting in the store was also room light (they use a darkened area to display televisions) I played back the Canon segment followed by the other and the different was very noticable.

Maybe other models do better, but Im changing brands.